Movement Allowance
In Master of Magic, Movement Allowance is the number of overland map or battlefield tiles a unit may traverse during its turn. Internally, the game stores and decrements double the number of compared to what is displayed. That is, the internal unit of measurement for movement is actually . This gives the engine some precision in dealing with actions whose cost isn't necessarily a whole number: e.g. Road or Non-Corporeal travel overland; Melee Attacks, diagonal movement, rough-, or paved terrain in battle. Movement Point Display Movement liberties and point-costs are complex, as may be expected of a game setting with plodding troops, fantastic beasts, odd races, ships, scouts, heroes, and of course, magic. On this wiki the top-hierarchy graphic, the , generically denotes the Movement Allowance for units and armies. However, in some contexts it will surface as a distinct sphere of movement among three, which are native to the Unit Statistics Window brought up by querying (right-clicking) a unit. * Ground Movement * Water Movement * Air Movement Strictly speaking, these graphics represent liberties in combat when they appear in the game. Water Movement permits entry into oceanic combat tiles (when battle occurs on Shore and Ocean, the entire battlescape is covered with these). Air Movement also does this and furthermore ignores terrain costs imposed on the inferior spheres. : Movement Type applies to overland stack movement and is the most exacting description of a unit or stack's liberties. Depending on the assets, the game uses as many as three of the following icons to depict it accurately. : Movement Point Expenditure Both overland and in the combat screen, costs and restrictions for entering a tile depend upon the unit's Movement Type and the terrain at the destination. The tile of origin does not matter. As long as a unit has at least remaining, it can perform another action in its turn, including expensive moves like walking onto a Mountain tile overland, maneuvering diagonally in combat, firing a Ranged Attack, and all the rest. At remaining, though, the unit's turn is ended, and it can no longer even perform free, magical actions like traveling along Enchanted Roads, or shifting between planes. Combat Tile Movement Summary The table below shows the Movement Point costs faced by and units in combat. always pay and for cardinal and diagonal moves respectively. Note that , , and have no effect on combat movement, even though it seems they should. In addition, Merging or Teleporting units always pay exactly 1 Movement Point to move, regardless of terrain. Combat Actions A Melee Attack costs 50% of a unit's maximum Movement Allowance. Casting a spell costs 100% of it. A Ranged Attack costs . Remember that as long as a unit has at least remaining, it can perform another action in its turn. For the most part, a Ranged Attack will cost all of a unit's movement points in effect, but Heroes enchanted with can potentially achieve a Movement Allowance greater than in combat. In this case, the Hero can make two attacks, or four attacks (two shots per attack command, with corresponding ammunition usage), per round. Overland Tile Movement Summary Overland movement does not care about diagonals, just terrain type. pay for every terrain type except Enchanted Roads, while units with pay (provided they can enter the tile at all). For all other units, there is usually a normal cost, and a special cost that can be granted by an ability: Related Magic The following magic increases Movement Allowance. For an overview of magic related to Movement Types, which increase the effective number of moves in context, see that article. * increase moves to 2, if less. * increases moves to 3, if less. * increases moves by 1. * Jewelry/Armor: increases moves by (Heroes only) * : doubles moves (only in battle) In battle, Jewelry and Armor modifiers are applied BEFORE (whether Unit Enchantment or Item Power). For example a Hero with and a +1 move Jewelry has 4 moves on overland, but only 3 in battle. On the other hand, a Hero with and has 4 moves both overland and in battle. Category:Unit Movement Category:Unit Attributes